1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector having an insulating housing and a conductive terminal portion mounted therein. This connector permits the electrical interconnection of a plurality of insulated connectors. This connector is especially useful with round insulated wires since an insulation piercing or displacing wire-receiving portion may be utilized.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous devices which utilize slotted terminal plates for splicing a plurality of wires. Perhaps the most pertinent in relation to the instant invention is the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,219. The device disclosed in this patent is particularly adapted to splicing small insulated wires such as those used in telephone circuits. Like the instant invention, that device utilizes a slotted plate which is inserted into an appropriate housing recess. Since that device is particularly adapted for use with small wires, the plate-recess geometry there is especially critical. The instant invention is intended to be useable with wires of varying diameters and the plate-recess geometry is not considered as quite so critical. There are other important differences between the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,219 and the instant invention. The instant invention utilizes two hermaphroditic mateable housing portions with a terminal plate mounted therein. The instant invention is also constructed so that only one contact between the plate and each conductor is used whereas two are employed with the U-shaped terminal of the other device. The instant invention should also result in a smaller connector for similar applications since the wires may be more closely spaced. This is possible because the terminal plate has wire-receiving portions on opposed edges which allow the terminal plate to be simultaneously moved into the opposed housings to establish connection of the wires. U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,219 does not incorporate these latter features.